Oneworld Classic Flight Reward Discussion - The Definitive Thread

[Thomas088]

Thank you - I should have seen that in the previous thread. I'm having the same problem as RedSMS - it seems that since Qantas introduced the ClassicPlus awards, there is next to no availability for Classic Business Class seats on any major route. I've given up on trying to put together a Oneworld Classic Flight reward itinerary in business class. We booked classic reward business class seats from DPS-LHR instead to get to see the new Grandchild in March, and we'll use up some more points to do a positioning flight to get us there. Feels like such a waste. I'll be Qantas Platinum by end October (finishing the second half of a Done5 then) and perhaps I might see business class availability earlier..

Yes we found the same issue with next to no business availability for classic rewards on QF operated flights (as a silver member), luckily we ended up getting seats on JAL in/out of Australia.

It may be too late for your current trip, and I don’t have firsthand experience of the success rate - but once you/a family member reaches platinum remember you can also request the release of classic award seats

 

[pye1201]

Yes we found the same issue with next to no business availability for classic rewards on QF operated flights (as a silver member), luckily we ended up getting seats on JAL in/out of Australia.

It may be too late for your current trip, and I don’t have firsthand experience of the success rate - but once you/a family member reaches platinum remember you can also request the release of classic award seats

I had no idea members with status could do this!! Thanks so much for drawing my attention to it - I'll have to give it a go! I think It's too late for the trip to see the next grandchild in March but it might make a 2025 family Christmas in the UK possible!! I'll have status through to November 2025 so might be able to book it!!
Cheers!

 

[pye1201]

As usual, I'm looking for input from more knowledgeable minds than mine. Apologies in advance for my longwinded plea for assistance.

I'm currently trying to do a trial run with dummy dates for a OWA Econ itinerary on the Qantas multi city tool to get a ballpark costing for my twin sister (who barely knows how to turn a computer on) to take a trip next year. She's finally amassed enought points for a OWA Economy itinerary. She wants to be in Tokyo for a cruise in September 2025, then I thought she could come back to Sydney for a long 'stopover', before using the second half of the itinerary to fly to Europe. I am hoping she could start the trip in say, AKL or HKG, fly to Tokyo, do the cruise and spend time in Japan, then fly back to Sydney for 6 months, then fly to LHR (or FCO depending on miles), coming back through DOH/DXB, stopping in CMB for a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka before finishing in Sydney (with the miles back to her origin point included in the 35K total). A couple of the itineraries I've tried are:

AKL-HKG (CX) TRANSIT
HKG-HND (CX) STOPOVER
HKG-SYD (pref JL or may QF if necessary) STOPOVER
SYD-DOH (QR) TRANSIT
DOH-FCO (BA) STOPOVER
FCO-DOH (QR) TRANSIT
DOH-CMB (QR) STOPOVER
CMB-SYD (QR) FINISH
The above miles on GCM (inc. the miles between SYD-HKG) are just over 34k.

Starting her in HKG gives her some extra miles to get to LHR for a stopover but will cost her more for the positioning flight. I also tried starting her in Manila - AA flies direct from there to HND.

Technically there is no rule against back-tracking I think? Is my problem that she's got a SYD stopover in the middle of the first itinerary and then coming back to SYD isn't allowed before the ticket technically closes out in HKG, even if she finishes in SYD?

Also tried the following:
SYD-HND (JL) STOPOVER
HND-HKG (CX OR JL) TRANSIT
HKG-AKL (CX) STOPOVER
(return AKL-SYD flght before resuming itinerary)
AKL-KUL (MH) TRANSIT
KUL-DOH (MH or QR) TRANSIT
DOH-FCO (MH or QR) STOPOVER
FCO-DOH (MH or QR) transit
DOH-CMB (QR) STOPOVER
CMB-SYD (QR of QF) FINISH
Mileage of 34,122k.
Thought she could just get a return flight AKL-SYD for the 6 month break in the itinerary.

I had planned to book the Tokyo part of the itinerary around December this year , then just book dummy dates for the european content until those flights become available. Classic Economy tickets aren't as difficult to find as Business Class so I thought this might work?

I just keep getting the same message on the multi-city tool: Change your departure or arrival city and try again. (#9207). I've checked flight availability on OW airlines on all the flights on expertflyer. I've checked availability on the Qantas website (even though it seems not to like transiting through DOH sometimes for some reason - DXB would do as well). I must have a flaw in the itinerary because I keep getting the same message.... I can't even make the itinerary work, let alone get a ballpark costing.... I had in mind that the fees/surcharges might probably come to around the $1k mark for this econ itinerary? Am I wildly out?

I must be making some really obvious stupid error that I'm going to be very embarrassed about..

 

[WilsonM]

As usual, I'm looking for input from more knowledgeable minds than mine. Apologies in advance for my longwinded plea for assistance.

I'm currently trying to do a trial run with dummy dates for a OWA Econ itinerary on the Qantas multi city tool to get a ballpark costing for my twin sister (who barely knows how to turn a computer on) to take a trip next year. She's finally amassed enought points for a OWA Economy itinerary. She wants to be in Tokyo for a cruise in September 2025, then I thought she could come back to Sydney for a long 'stopover', before using the second half of the itinerary to fly to Europe. I am hoping she could start the trip in say, AKL or HKG, fly to Tokyo, do the cruise and spend time in Japan, then fly back to Sydney for 6 months, then fly to LHR (or FCO depending on miles), coming back through DOH/DXB, stopping in CMB for a couple of weeks in Sri Lanka before finishing in Sydney (with the miles back to her origin point included in the 35K total). A couple of the itineraries I've tried are:

AKL-HKG (CX) TRANSIT
HKG-HND (CX) STOPOVER
HKG-SYD (pref JL or may QF if necessary) STOPOVER
SYD-DOH (QR) TRANSIT
DOH-FCO (BA) STOPOVER
FCO-DOH (QR) TRANSIT
DOH-CMB (QR) STOPOVER
CMB-SYD (QR) FINISH
The above miles on GCM (inc. the miles between SYD-HKG) are just over 34k.

Starting her in HKG gives her some extra miles to get to LHR for a stopover but will cost her more for the positioning flight. I also tried starting her in Manila - AA flies direct from there to HND.

Technically there is no rule against back-tracking I think? Is my problem that she's got a SYD stopover in the middle of the first itinerary and then coming back to SYD isn't allowed before the ticket technically closes out in HKG, even if she finishes in SYD?

Also tried the following:
SYD-HND (JL) STOPOVER
HND-HKG (CX OR JL) TRANSIT
HKG-AKL (CX) STOPOVER
(return AKL-SYD flght before resuming itinerary)
AKL-KUL (MH) TRANSIT
KUL-DOH (MH or QR) TRANSIT
DOH-FCO (MH or QR) STOPOVER
FCO-DOH (MH or QR) transit
DOH-CMB (QR) STOPOVER
CMB-SYD (QR of QF) FINISH
Mileage of 34,122k.
Thought she could just get a return flight AKL-SYD for the 6 month break in the itinerary.

I had planned to book the Tokyo part of the itinerary around December this year , then just book dummy dates for the european content until those flights become available. Classic Economy tickets aren't as difficult to find as Business Class so I thought this might work?

I just keep getting the same message on the multi-city tool: Change your departure or arrival city and try again. (#9207). I've checked flight availability on OW airlines on all the flights on expertflyer. I've checked availability on the Qantas website (even though it seems not to like transiting through DOH sometimes for some reason - DXB would do as well). I must have a flaw in the itinerary because I keep getting the same message.... I can't even make the itinerary work, let alone get a ballpark costing.... I had in mind that the fees/surcharges might probably come to around the $1k mark for this econ itinerary? Am I wildly out?

I must be making some really obvious stupid error that I'm going to be very embarrassed about..

Qatar Airways doesn't allow access to any award via Qantas Frequent Flyer until 30 days prior to departure, and 3 days prior for Business. So that's why you're getting a #9207 error, as there's no flights available to QFF, despite the QR flights being made available through other OW programs. You can technically fly through Doha by using something like BA-MH, but the Qantas website really doesn't like Doha and Dubai.

 

[RPC]

G'day crew,
I'm hoping it appropriate in where I'm posting this query.
I have an iterinary planned for 2 weeks in the US over Christmas, only issue is repositioning ourselves back at LAX to fly home. Looking to get back from New York on the 27th of Dec 24, using Qantas points. Given the time of year options are quite limited, I wanted to know if any can think of any creative ways (pending an additional stop or two) in the US to get us from NY back to LAX by 27th or 28th of December. Have tried mutliple options NY to St Louis, St Louis to LAX, Dallas, Charlotte, etc. Would be amazing if there was a website that would spot all possible rewards routing options.

 

[pye1201]

Qatar Airways doesn't allow access to any award via Qantas Frequent Flyer until 30 days prior to departure, and 3 days prior for Business. So that's why you're getting a #9207 error, as there's no flights available to QFF, despite the QR flights being made available through other OW programs. You can technically fly through Doha by using something like BA-MH, but the Qantas website really doesn't like Doha and Dubai.

Thanks for that. That explains my problem.. I'll have to try and get creative I guess...

 

[SubRosa]

Hey there brains trust. I'm looking for tips regarding the Qantas hotline so I can finalise a oneworld classic reward flight booking.

What details should I be providing, to make it easier for Qantas to see oneworld availability - not just for Qantas, but also for partner airlines?
I can see plenty of availability when I look up the same flight on partner airlines such as British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines. Qantas just seems to say no.


Background
First leg is booked. Need to add segments. Hence I have to use the hotline. I'm Bronze and hubby is Silver.

Spent three hours practising HUACA already. Got lots of tips from here (ask to check availability, don't let them touch the existing booking; have my booking open, checking ticketing starts with '081' by using the Royal Jordanian website etc)

The dream is to fly Australia - Asia - Europe and then return (via Middle East or Asia) in mid-2025. Two adults, business class. We have the points - including to pay for fare changes etc. The first leg (SYD-HND-FRA) is booked. Just looking to add internal Europe flights and then the leg home. Plenty of rewards availability when I check British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines.

I'm pretty sure its equally frustrating for Qantas staff. So far I've spoken to a team in South Africa and a team in Fiji. One of them got pretty cranky with me and just kept telling me what they could and couldn't see on their screen. Not exactly helpful for someone on the phone. Apart from remaining calm and polite, not sure what else I can do. All suggestions gratefully received.

 

[sudoer]

Would be amazing if there was a website that would spot all possible rewards routing options.

Seats.aero is good for this but isn't yielding any results which show up in the QF multi-city engine.

The green options are direct, the blue involve connections.



You haven't mentioned how many seats you need but I'd probably start looking at cash fares. Intra US "First" can be a decent QFF earner if you play the status game.

 

[djkelly69]

I wanted to know if any can think of any creative ways (pending an additional stop or two) in the US to get us from NY back to LAX by 27th or 28th of December.

Just checking you are trying all 3 NY airports? Not sure where you will be staying, but it is usually pretty similar cost/time wise to get to any of them.

 

[flapper]

Hey there brains trust. I'm looking for tips regarding the Qantas hotline so I can finalise a oneworld classic reward flight booking.

What details should I be providing, to make it easier for Qantas to see oneworld availability - not just for Qantas, but also for partner airlines?
I can see plenty of availability when I look up the same flight on partner airlines such as British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines. Qantas just seems to say no.


Background
First leg is booked. Need to add segments. Hence I have to use the hotline. I'm Bronze and hubby is Silver.

Spent three hours practising HUACA already. Got lots of tips from here (ask to check availability, don't let them touch the existing booking; have my booking open, checking ticketing starts with '081' by using the Royal Jordanian website etc)

The dream is to fly Australia - Asia - Europe and then return (via Middle East or Asia) in mid-2025. Two adults, business class. We have the points - including to pay for fare changes etc. The first leg (SYD-HND-FRA) is booked. Just looking to add internal Europe flights and then the leg home. Plenty of rewards availability when I check British Airways, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Malaysian Airlines.

I'm pretty sure its equally frustrating for Qantas staff. So far I've spoken to a team in South Africa and a team in Fiji. One of them got pretty cranky with me and just kept telling me what they could and couldn't see on their screen. Not exactly helpful for someone on the phone. Apart from remaining calm and polite, not sure what else I can do. All suggestions gratefully received.

If the rewards seats do not show on QF website it's unlikely they are available to book - sometimes they are so no harm in asking, it's just very unlikely.
BA severely restrict rewards seats to non Avios airlines like QF. JL have base points rewards seats available to QF and then higher points, similiar to Classic Rewards Plus, not avail to QF. Looking at parner airlines websites can help but rewards seats need to be confirmed on the QF website.

 

[SubRosa]

If the rewards seats do not show on QF website it's unlikely they are available to book - sometimes they are so no harm in asking, it's just very unlikely.
BA severely restrict rewards seats to non Avios airlines like QF. JL have base points rewards seats available to QF and then higher points, similiar to Classic Rewards Plus, not avail to QF. Looking at parner airlines websites can help but rewards seats need to be confirmed on the QF website.

Thanks for that insight into how the oneworld alliance works in practice.

 

[Fik]

Want to give a big shout out of thanks for all the information in this thread.

Managed to book my 8 week trip to Asia and Europe June to August 2025 today. 2 of us all in J. Took two phone calls - one for the flights out of Aus through to Venice and second for flights from Slovenia back home via Kuala Lumpur.

In the spirit of sharing, flights are:

MEL > NRT > NGO (Japan Airlines)
NRT > HEL (Finnair)
HEL > VCE (Finnair)
LJU > HEL > CDG (Finnair)
CDG > CMB > KUL ( Sri Lankan Airlines)
KUL > MEL ( Malaysian Airlines)

Five stops. Two surface sectors - Nagoya to Tokyo and Venice to Ljubljana and not a Qantas flight in sight as no availability. All ticketed 10 minutes after getting off the phone ( a risk, but guy on the phone said he would keep an eye on the booking until it was ticketed).

Couldn’t have done this without everything I learnt here.

Thanks

Fik

 

[SubRosa]

Want to give a big shout out of thanks for all the information in this thread.

Managed to book my 8 week trip to Asia and Europe June to August 2025 today. 2 of us all in J. Took two phone calls - one for the flights out of Aus through to Venice and second for flights from Croatia back home via Kuala Lumpur.

In the spirit of sharing, flights are:

MEL > NRT > NGO (Japan Airlines)
NRT > HEL (Finnair)
HEL > VCE (Finnair)
LJU > HEL > CDG (Finnair)
CDG > CMB > KUL ( Sri Lankan Airlines)
KUL > MEL ( Malaysian Airlines)

Five stops. Two surface sectors - Nagoya to Tokyo and Venice to Ljubljana and not a Qantas flight in sight as no availability. All ticketed 10 minutes after getting off the phone ( a risk, but guy on the phone said he would keep an eye on the booking until it was ticketed).

Couldn’t have done this without everything I learnt here.

Thanks

Fik

Absolutely agree. Thank you to everyone here. Incredible knowledge.

Looks fantastic! You'll have a great time. Well done on getting KUL-MEL. I'm currently trying to get a similar trip (Aust - Asia - Europe return) and hitting a few hurdles. Well done for your creativity. Wishing you bon voyage and safe travels.

 

[Fik]

Absolutely agree. Thank you to everyone here. Incredible knowledge.

Looks fantastic! You'll have a great time. Well done on getting KUL-MEL. I'm currently trying to get a similar trip (Aust - Asia - Europe return) and hitting a few hurdles. Well done for your creativity. Wishing you bon voyage and safe travels.

There were a few days in mid August with J seats KUL-MEL - good luck

 

[KarenD]

Hi all, wondering if anyone has an insight. Looking at Syd to Yvr (Vancouver) in business next August for two adults. Easiest redemption seemed to be Fiji Airways booked via classic reward. How we flights for August 2025 are not being released as per normal patterns. Thinking it might be some sort of blackout period? Flights on Fiji Air to Dallas / SFO / LAX are still being released, so worst case maybe we fly to LAX / SFO and buy a separate flight to Vancouver. LAX is not preferred but has the a350, SFO is the a330. Not ideal to do 2 layovers but better than not going at all I guess. At this point I'm waiting to see if any flights from Nadi to Vancouver pop up but eventually will need to make a decision before we get to the end of our ideal dates, i have a week or two up my sleeve at best to sit and hope that the Fiji flight to Vancouver reappears

Or if anyone has a suggestion of alternate routes,that would be appreciated too.

 

[Matt_01]

Is my problem that she's got a SYD stopover in the middle of the first itinerary and then coming back to SYD isn't allowed before the ticket technically closes out in HKG,

One of the issues may be AKL/SYD. Although technically possible the QF system used to claim AKL as part of AU. I posted this earlier in the year, posted up thread

 

[Captain Halliday]

Hi all, wondering if anyone has an insight. Looking at Syd to Yvr (Vancouver) in business next August for two adults. Easiest redemption seemed to be Fiji Airways booked via classic reward. How we flights for August 2025 are not being released as per normal patterns. Thinking it might be some sort of blackout period? Flights on Fiji Air to Dallas / SFO / LAX are still being released, so worst case maybe we fly to LAX / SFO and buy a separate flight to Vancouver. LAX is not preferred but has the a350, SFO is the a330. Not ideal to do 2 layovers but better than not going at all I guess. At this point I'm waiting to see if any flights from Nadi to Vancouver pop up but eventually will need to make a decision before we get to the end of our ideal dates, i have a week or two up my sleeve at best to sit and hope that the Fiji flight to Vancouver reappears

Or if anyone has a suggestion of alternate routes,that would be appreciated too.

FJ is not a oneworld member airline yet.

You won’t be able to use it in a oneworld classic Flight anward until they join as full members.

You could try JL via ports in Japan.

 

[Matt_01]

@KarenD depending on when you are planning to fly in Aug 25 JL have already started releasing NRT-YVR up to 15 Aug 25. You will need to use the multi-city option and tick the flexible date option. JL start releasing seats around a week ahead of QF.

 

[SubRosa]

Another appreciation post. Thanks everyone! Finally confirmed our oneworld classic rewards in business class today. Feeling extremely lucky (and tired, after seven hours on the Qantas hotline). My way of paying it forward is to capture a list of some of the key tips and tricks that got me through (most of which I gained by various posts in this group).

For all the experts here - feel free to add if I've missed anything!


#1 Be realistic about how many points you will need

• Clearly you'll need the points to pay for the flights. Use the rewards table to identify what you need, based on distance and fare class. https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/use-points/classic-flight-rewards/tables.html
• Factor in at least 5,000 points per person for changes. Most people don't achieve the full booking in one go and will need help from Qantas for at least one change.
• It helps to have 7,700 points per person handy, in case they try to charge a service assistance fee. This is a bit hit 'n' miss. The way I look at it, if someone is close to finishing a booking worth 318,000 points and all you're haggling over is an extra 7,700 points - take the booking! Locking in available seats is more important - you can try to argue for a refund later

#2 Read the rules and bookmark the link

• Create your own checklist based on the rules and test your own plan, before you book.
• Use the link and have the fare conditions open if you have to call the hotline. They cannot show you their screen, but you can encourage them to open the fare conditions on their screen. Then when they tell you there's an issue, you can look at the rules together and - most of the time - work it out. https://www.qantas.com/au/en/freque...join/terms-and-conditions.html#reward-flights

#3 Develop your dummy bookings by using the Qantas multi-city tool

• If you cannot fit your entire booking into the tool, take it as a hint. The more complex it is, the harder it will be to line everything up - either online or via the Qantas hotline. Perseverance will be your friend.
• Use the handy guide if you get error codes, so you can interpret what the website is telling you. https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/qantas-website-error-codes/
  

#4 Handy tools to use for extra research

• You can also sign up (for free) for the rewards programs for British Airways, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines etc. They all function quite differently, but most give you some sense of reward seat availability.
  • Be aware that just because another oneworld airline has reward availability, it doesn't mean they have released those seats to Qantas. If you are Platinum, you can ask to have them released. For everyone else, it gives you a sense of how many options there are - that can be helpful when you are looking for creative routes.
• Great Circle Mapper is handy for calculating total miles and the number of segments. http://www.gcmap.com/
• Flight connections is handy for showing you the routes covered by oneworld members https://www.flightconnections.com/route-map-oneworld
• AFF is (of course) handy for lots of things. If you're really into your research, you can also keep an eye on the taxes you have to pay - the duties for some airports / airlines cost a lot more than others. https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/air-passenger-duty/

#5 Be polite and persistent with the Qantas hotline, or HUACA

• Don't kid yourself. Unless you are Platinum, you're going to spend a long time 'enjoying' the Qantas hotline hold music.
• Even when you do get through, it may not be straightforward. It will soon be obvious that most staff are very busy and few of them have training or experience with these kinds of complicated bookings. It helps if you can be calm and polite.
• If you spend more than 10-20 minutes (after you finally get through to a consultant) and they really don't understand, then apply HUACA. Hang Up And Call Again. No need to be rude, but some of them just don't get it and you need to keep ringing until you get someone competent.
• However, avoid the offer of a callback if you have any choice. I was promised two callbacks on two separate days. Neither occurred. If they are at all competent, stay on the line.
• Have your booking open on your screen and keep refreshing it. As they get close to processing the booking, you should see the details on your screen.

#6 Write down your booking reference and monitor to make sure it gets ticketed

• Make a record of your 6-digit booking reference (known as a PNR = Passenger Name Record).
• The hotline consultant will process the booking and send it off to a ticketing team, who then contacts all of the partner airlines. if the ticketing doesn't happen within the next 24-72 hours, the seats will likely be released for others to book.
• You can use the 'manage booking' on the Royal Jordanian website. If you see the e-ticket number starting with 081-xx_xx then you know it has been successfully ticketed.
• If you're not sure, you can try getting attention via Facebook or Twitter (just gotta get past the chatbots stage)
• If you don't see tickets within 24hr then it might be worth sending an email with your PNR to the Qantas ticket escalation team. [email protected]

And good luck!

 

[Madz]

Just wanted to share a Qantas good news story. Last year I planned a round the world business class trip for my parents and they loved it and want to do it again (with different routing, obviously!). I (WP) got through to the Hobart call centre and didn’t wait more than 10 seconds for an answer.

I landed Tyler who was bloody amazing. Over 90 minutes he helped me secure the following. It was all done on the spot, with him requesting and securing the release of business seats to and from the US.

Route:

SYD-DFW
DFW-MIA
MIA-BOG
BOG-MAD
MAD-MUC
LHR-ORD
ORD-SEA
SEA-ANC
ANC-SEA
SFO-SYD

I was pushing it, this came in at over 34,000 miles.

So anyway, thanks to Qantas staff going the extra mile.